Over the last few weeks, I’ve done a deep dive into business intelligence within public safety agencies as well as how agencies are trying to use business intelligence to make communities and employees safer. Specifically, I’ve looked at how many public safety agencies are becoming data-driven decision makers and reviewed some examples of how agencies use real time analytics to help them predict the future.
Now that there’s a better understanding as to why and how agencies use business intelligence and predictive analytics like stream analytics and machine learning, I would like to discuss the benefits of using predictive analytics in police, fire, and EMS agencies.
Agencies are required to respond to events, including, as I discussed in my previous blog post about machine learning, burglar alarms, which are mostly false. Since, we know that agencies always respond to events, we encourage our customers to use predictive analytic models like machine learning to potentially create a reliable probability indicator. Predictive analytics allow for prioritization of such events and are a more efficient use of resources.
Agencies can align response priorities with likelihood, allowing for benefits, including:
- More efficient use of resources (e.g., false alarms can wait)
- Better chance to intercept criminals
- Reduced danger to public and officers from unnecessary high priority response
When an agency adds policies and analytics to improve operations, resource management, and other organizational areas, it needs to continually reassess the outcome data to see if improvements have been made. An agency needs to review new data after it has implemented policies and procedures to see if the new data fits the outcome it had hoped for. And if it doesn’t, then the agency needs to figure out where things went wrong in the process and adjust policies and procedures to achieve objectives.
For more information about business intelligence being used in public safety agencies and how you might use these capabilities in your organization, register for HxGN LIVE 2018. Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure’s Chris Klimm, principal consultant for our Intergraph Business Intelligence for Public Safety, will be hosting several sessions during the week as well as demos in The Zone. We hope to see you there.
